Ctrip Car gets the nod to run ride-hailing business; Meituan extends its offerings to 320 million annual active users through its Mobike acquisition; and higher fuel cost is affecting the growth of airlines.

Ctrip, Meituan & Airbnb

Travel agencies were the second fastest-rising category in the BrandZ China Top 100 in 2018 with a 57% increase in brand value.

Ctrip has recently obtained an online car-hailing operating license, giving its independent car-booking services the right to offer services nationwide after three years of preparation. An insider revealed that Ctrip is currently mulling over cooperation with Uber.

In an internal message released on April 4, Meituan CEO Wang Xing said: “As a new member of the Meituan family, Mobike will continue to maintain independent brand and operation, and the management team of Mobike will stay unchanged with Mr. Xiaofeng Wang serving as CEO, Ms. Weiwei Hu as President, Mr. Yiping Xia as CTO, and I will serve as the Chairman of Mobike.”

The purchase of Mobike will add bicycle-sharing to Meituan’s suite of services for its 320 million annual active buyers.

Airbnb China said in an email: “Airbnb China must comply with local laws and regulations, including privacy and information disclosure laws.”

Airbnb launched Airbnb Plus in Shanghai on March 28 and plans to expand the service to more cities this year. Every qualified Airbnb Plus home has been inspected and verified in person against a 100+ point checklist covering cleanliness, comfort and design.

The company also launched an Airbnb Host Academy in China, an innovative program leveraging online and offline efforts to provide relevant educational content to service local hosts.

The direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP was RMB 2,719.2 billion (USD 402.3 billion), 3.3% of total GDP in 2017 and is forecast to rise by 6.9% in 2018, and to rise by 6.7% per annum from 2018-2028, to RMB 5,578.7 billion (USD 825.4 billion) or 3.9% of total GDP in 2028.

Travel and tourism directly supported 28,250,000 jobs (3.6% of total employment). This is expected to rise by 1.5% in 2018 and rise 1.8% pa thereafter to provide 34,413,000 jobs (4.3% of total employment) in 2028.

China’s three flag-carriers reported improved operating revenues and profits for the financial year ended December 31, 2017, albeit at lower level than analysts’ projections.

Fuel costs, constituting the bulk of total costs, posed a significant impact on the carriers’ bottom lines.

For China Southern, jet fuel costs, which accounted for 50.64% of flight operation expenses, increased by 34.02% from RMB 23,799 million in 2016 to RMB 31,895 million in 2017. China Eastern’s total aircraft fuel cost of 2017 was RMB 25,131 million, 28.05% higher than the year before. Air China’s jet fuel cost hiked by 29.24% YOY to RMB 6.427 billion.

Taiwan-based OwlTing, which has raised USD 6 million from Kyber Capital and Midana Capital among others, has built a blockchain-based system for 400 clients. The system will help eliminate double-booking of hotel rooms by recording real-time inventory as customers book through online services such as Expedia.

Sogou, one of China’s innovators in search engine, has launched its AI-powered, portable translation device, the Sogou Travel Translator.

The offline translation mode allows users to translate real-time dialogue and text-embedded in images without being connected to the Internet. Optical Character Recognition technology enables translation of image-embedded text so users can read street signs and menus; and the voice recognition accuracy rate is over 97%.

Approximately 60% of the net proceeds from the offering will be used for potential acquisitions of domestic and overseas operators, while 25% of the net proceeds will be used for the organic expansion of the hotel chain and the improvement of existing hotel properties.

Sweetome Group, a former offline unit of Tujia, known as China’s Airbnb, will operate independently following a new round of financing backed by real estate conglomerate Poly Capital. It has also debuted its “sharing accommodation” core strategy.